I have culled these most recent scientific finds as being the most significant from EurekAlert!'s Breaking News.

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Public Release: 23-Sep-2006
Geology
Dinosaurs' climate shifted too, reports show
Ancient rocks from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean suggest dramatic climate changes during the dinosaur-dominated Mesozoic Era, a time once thought to have been monotonously hot and humid.
National Science Foundation, Geological Society of America

Public Release: 22-Sep-2006
2006 General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union
Astrophysical Journal
Hubble finds hundreds of young galaxies in the early universe
Astronomers analysing two of the deepest views of the cosmos made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have uncovered a gold mine of galaxies, more than 500, that existed less than a thousand million years after the Big Bang.

Public Release: 22-Sep-2006
Paleobiology
Ancient birds flew on all-fours
The earliest known ancestor of modern-day birds took to the skies by gliding from trees using primitive feathered wings on their arms and legs, according to new research by a University of Calgary paleontologist. In a paper published in the journal Paleobiology, Department of Biological Sciences Ph.D. student Nick Longrich challenges the idea that birds began flying by taking off from the ground while running and shows that the dinosaur-like bird Archaeopteryx soared using wing-like feathers on all of its limbs.

Public Release: 21-Sep-2006
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Lucky find off Galapagos
During a research expedition off South America, scientists discover widespread ethane and propane produced by microorganisms in deeply-buried sediments. Their findings on the production of energy-laden gases appear in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The findings suggest that microbes in the ecosystem below the seafloor carry out hitherto unrecognized processes, relevant to both our understanding of global element cycles and the metabolic abilities of Earth's microbial biosphere.

Public Release: 21-Sep-2006
Nature
Meet the earliest baby girl ever discovered
The find of an australopithecus afarensis child will help to answer important questions concerning human evolution.

Public Release: 20-Sep-2006
Nature Immunology
Killer' B cells demonstrate evolutionary link between fish and mammal immune systems
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine have discovered a unique evolutionary link between the immune systems of fish and mammals in the form of a primitive version of B cells, white blood cells of the immune system. Unlike mammalian B cells, which produce antibodies, these "killer" B cells actually ingest foreign particles and microbes. The finding represents a sizeable evolutionary step and offers a potential strategy for developing needed fish vaccines.
National Science Foundation, US Department of Agriculture

Public Release: 20-Sep-2006
Biology Letters
Squid skin reveals hidden messages
In research published today in the journal Biology Letters, MBL (Marine Biological Laboratory) researchers Lydia Mäthger and Roger Hanlon present evidence that the polarized aspect of the skin of the longfin inshore squid, Loligo pealeii, is maintained after passing through the pigment cells responsible for camouflage.

Public Release: 20-Sep-2006
Earth's most diverse marine life found off Indonesia's Papua Province
Two recent expeditions led by Conservation International (CI) to the heart of Asia's "Coral Triangle" discovered dozens of new species of marine life including epaulette sharks, "flasher" wrasse and reef-building coral, confirming the region as the Earth's richest seascape.
Conservation International

Public Release: 20-Sep-2006
Neuron
Emotional control circuit of brain's fear response discovered
Columbia University Medical Center researchers have identified the neurocircuit that controls the brain's response to fear. Results suggest that it may be possible to understand psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety or depression, from the underlying neurophysiology -- workings of the brain.

Public Release: 20-Sep-2006
Neuron
How the brain keeps emotions at bay
Daily life requires that people cope with distracting emotions -- from the basketball player who must make a crucial shot amidst a screaming crowd, to a salesman under pressure delivering an important pitch to a client. Researchers have now discovered that the brain is able to prevent emotions from interfering with mental functioning by having a specific "executive processing" area of the cortex inhibit activity of the emotion-processing region.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Kavli Institute for Brain Sciences, Neurobiology and Behavior Research Training Program

Public Release: 19-Sep-2006
Scientists discover new ring and other features at Saturn
Saturn sports a new ring in an image taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Sunday, Sept. 17, during a one-of-a-kind observation. Other spectacular sights captured by Cassini's cameras include wispy fingers of icy material stretching out tens of thousands of kilometers from the active moon, Enceladus, and a cameo color appearance by planet Earth.

Public Release: 19-Sep-2006
Optics Express
Breakthrough in computer chip design eliminates wires in data transmission
Research slated to appear in the Oct. 2 edition of the Optical Society of America's Optics Express will unveil that researchers have created a new laser-silicon hybrid computer chip that can produce laser beams that will make it possible to use laser light rather than wires to send data between chips, removing the most significant bottleneck in computer design.

Public Release: 19-Sep-2006
Current Biology
UCI scientists discover a new healthy role for fat
Too much body fat may be a bad thing, but there is increasing evidence that too little fat also may have some surprisingly negative consequences.

Public Release: 19-Sep-2006
American Journal of Epidemiology
Same mortality but higher suicide rate among women with breast implants
A study conducted among 24,600 women by two Université Laval Faculty of Medicine researchers and their colleagues from the Canadian Public Health Agency and Cancer Care Ontario concludes that having breast implants does not increase mortality risk. However, the study reveals that the suicide rate among women with breast implants is 73 percent higher than in the general population.

Public Release: 19-Sep-2006
Brain
First evidence that musical training affects brain development in young children
Researchers have found the first evidence that young children who take music lessons show different brain development and improved memory over the course of a year compared to children who do not receive musical training, according to research published in the journal Brain.
International Foundation for Music Research, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Sound Technology Promotion Foundation

Public Release: 18-Sep-2006
Astrophysical Journal
Scientists snap images of first brown dwarf in planetary system
Scientists using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have discovered and directly imaged a small brown dwarf star, 50 times the mass of Jupiter, orbiting with a planet around a sun-like star. Such an arrangement has never before been seen but might be common, the scientists say, leading to solar systems with distorted planetary orbits.
NASA, Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council of the UK, Italian Space Agency

Public Release: 18-Sep-2006
Current Biology
Brain's action center is all talk
Areas in the premotor cortex involved in specific actions (kicking, biting, etc.) are also active when subjects hear descriptions of those actions. The first direct comparison of action and language in specific motor areas, this study supports the thesis that meaning is "embodied" rather than segregated in a separate area of the brain.
National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation

Public Release: 18-Sep-2006
Current Biology
Mirrors in the mind: New studies elucidate how the brain reflects onto itself the actions of others
In three new independent studies, researchers have deepened our understanding of the remarkable ability of some specialized areas of the brain to activate both in response to one's own actions and in response to sensory cues, such as sight, of the same actions perpetrated by another individual. This ability is thought to be based in the activity of so-called mirror neurons, which have been hypothesized to contribute to skills such as empathy, socialized behavior and language acquisition.
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Oderzoek vidi, Brain Mapping Medical Research Organization

Public Release: 18-May-2006

Cell
Hebrew University researchers succeed in observing for 1st time how DNA damage is identified
For the first time anywhere, researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have succeeded in observing and describing how damaged DNA is naturally identified.

Public Release: 18-May-2006
Science
Mapping 'self' and 'other' in the brain
Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have mapped not only where trust forms in the brain but have also uncovered clues as to how humans represent themselves and others as physical responses in their brains. The study, led by Dr. Read Montague, professor of neuroscience at BCM and director of its Brown Human Neuroimaging Laboratory, used functional magnetic resonance imaging to monitor brain activity in pairs of subjects during a social exchange game.

Public Release: 18-May-2006
Science
Researchers achieve long-sought goal of using lasers to break specific molecular bonds
A team of researchers has achieved a long-sought scientific goal: using laser light to break specific molecular bonds. The process uses laser light, instead of heat, to strip hydrogen atoms from silicon surfaces. This is a key step in the manufacture of computer chips and solar cells, so the achievement could reduce the cost and improve the quality of a wide variety of semiconductor devices.
US Department of Energy, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, National Science Foundation

Follow-up on ‘Hobbit’ discovery:

Public Release: 18-May-2006
Science
Scientists scuttle claims that 'Hobbit' fossil from Flores, Indonesia, is a new hominid
In 2003, scientists found 18,000-year-old bones of a small, humanlike creature in Flores, Indonesia. They concluded the bones represent a new species of hominid, which was widely accepted. A far more likely explanation is that the bones belonged to a modern human with microcephaly, a condition that causes small brain size, short stature. This study disputes both the conclusion and methods of the earlier work, showing similarities between the "Hobbit" skull and modern microcephalic skulls.

Public Release: 18-May-2006
Science
Heal thyself: Systems biology model reveals how cells avoid becoming cancerous
A team of researchers used new biotechnology tools to discover an elaborate system of gene control that is triggered by damage to DNA. The model could aid the development of new therapeutic agents to combat a broad spectrum of diseases, including cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and premature aging.
NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIH/National Cancer Institute, David and Lucille Packard Foundation, American Cancer Society

Public Release: 18-May-2006
Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
Academic Emergency Medicine
Even a little cooling helps after cardiac arrest
As many as 400,000 people in North America suffer sudden cardiac arrest each year. Only 30 percent have their hearts restarted. Once the heart is restarted, a significant factor for subsequent death is brain injury. Cooling the patient can minimize the damage. In a paper presented at the 2006 Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Annual Meeting, May 18-21, in San Francisco, investigators from the University of Pittsburgh discussed how even slight cooling (2 ºC) can help.

Public Release: 17-May-2006
Nature
Slab of sunken ocean floor found deep within Earth
Deep within Earth, halfway to its center in an area where Earth's core meets its mantle, lies a massive folded slab of rock that once was the ocean floor, reports a team of researchers (including one from Arizona State University) in the current issue of Nature.

Public Release: 17-May-2006
Nature
Trio of Neptunes and their belt
Using the ultra-precise HARPS spectrograph on ESO's 3.6-m telescope at La Silla (Chile), a team of European astronomers have discovered that a nearby star is host to three Neptune-mass planets. The innermost planet is most probably rocky, while the outermost is the first Neptune-mass planet to reside in the habitable zone. This unique system is likely further enriched by an asteroid belt.

Public Release: 17-May-2006
Nature
Human and chimp genomes reveal new twist on origin of species
A new study appearing in the May 17 online edition of Nature suggests that the last common ancestor shared between chimps and humans may be ~1 million years more recent than previous estimates. Additional findings reveal a particularly young age of one of the human sex chromosomes and point to a complex process of speciation, with possible interbreeding during speciation.
NIH/National Human Genome Research Institute, Burroughs-Wellcome

Public Release: 17-May-2006
Child Development
Moderate stress during pregnancy does not harm child development
A new study that examined the connection between maternal anxiety during pregnancy and its later effects on child development has yielded some surprising results. Children whose mothers experienced more stress and anxiety during pregnancy actually had more enhanced mental and motor development at age two than their peers. While this finding is surprising, the research supports the understanding that moderate stress can be beneficial to a child's adaptation to the environment.
NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Maternal and Child Health Bureau

Public Release: 16-May-2006
Quarterly Review of Biology
Small molecule interactions were central to the origin of life
An important new paper argues against the widely held theory that the origin of life began with the spontaneous appearance of a large, replicating molecule such as RNA. Instead, Robert Shapiro (NYU) raises an alternative that does not depend on a "stupendously improbable accident," presenting the more plausible idea that life began within a mixture of simple organic molecules, multiplied through catalyzed reaction cycles and an external source of available energy.

Public Release: 15-May-2006
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
A ruler to measure the universe
Astronomers with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, including principal authors now at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, have published the largest three-dimensional map of the universe ever constructed, a wedge-shaped slice of the cosmos that encompasses 600,000 uniquely luminous red galaxies and extends 40 percent of the way back in time to the Big Bang. Large-scale structures repeating every 450 million light years confirm the accelerating expansion of the universe due to dark energy.
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, SDSS Participating Institutions, National Science Foundation, US Department of Energy, NASA, Monbukagakusho, Max Planck Society, Higher Education Funding Council England

Public Release: 15-May-2006
American Journal of Epidemiology
For elderly, extra pounds may lower mortality rates
UC Irvine study found that people in their 80s and 90s who were overweight by BMI standards (25 to 29.9 range) had lower mortality rates than those who were in the normal range (18.5 to 24.9). The findings suggest that the BMI scale, which applies to all adults, may not be appropriate for the elderly and should be age-adjusted.

Public Release: 15-May-2006
Physical Review Letters
Penn State researchers look beyond the birth of the universe
Physicists at Penn State University have used mathematical calculations to reveal a time before the Big Bang, when matter and space-time were born, according to Einstein's general theory of relativity. General relativity offers no clues about existence before the Big Bang, but the model developed at Penn State, which combines quantum physics with general relativity, traces through the Big Bang to a shrinking universe that exhibits the physics similar to ours.
National Science Foundation, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and the Penn State Eberly College of Science

Public Release: 14-May-2006
Nature Neuroscience
Factor isolated that regenerates nerve fibers
Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have discovered a naturally occurring, previously unrecognized growth factor that stimulates regeneration in injured optic nerves – raising the possibility of treating blindness due to optic-nerve damage and the hope of achieving similar regeneration elsewhere in the central nervous system (the spinal cord and brain). The factor, called oncomodulin, is described in the May 14 online edition of Nature Neuroscience.
NIH/National Eye Institute, Patterson Family Trust, European Commission, Boston Life Sciences, Inc.

Public Release: 12-May-2006
Molecular Biology and Evolution
Methane-belching bugs inspire a new theory of the origin of life on Earth
Scientists at Penn State have discovered a previously unknown biochemical process that has led to their development of a fundamental new theory of the origin of life on Earth. The new theory improves upon two long-contentious prevailing theories by proposing a central role for energy conservation during early evolution, based on a simple three-step biochemical mechanism. Their results also provide insights into the evolution of the microbial production of methane.
US Department of Energy, NASA